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Free Speech Union - Latest News [Page 1]
Otago Vice-Chancellor's Email Undermines Institutional Neutrality Within Academia
Tuesday, 2 June 2026, 3:00 pm | Free Speech Union
Martin said institutional neutrality existed to protect academic freedom. "A university stays open by not announcing, from the chair, which side of a contested question its members should be on," she said. More >>
A Cardboard Sign Is Still Speech: Free Speech Union Warns Against Open-Ended Police “Move-On” Powers
Wednesday, 27 May 2026, 11:46 am | Free Speech Union
“We are not asking Parliament to go soft on disorder. We are asking it to listen to its own Attorney-General,” said Jillaine Heather, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union. More >>
Queenstown Lakes Council Has No Business Deciding Who Counts As A Journalist
Tuesday, 19 May 2026, 4:45 pm | Free Speech Union
The Free Speech Union takes no position on the merits of individual Crux stories. Eight of thirteen Media Council complaints against Crux since 2020 have been upheld. The point here is procedural, not editorial. More >>
Universal Age Verification Confirmed; Everything Else Is Being Built In The Dark
Monday, 18 May 2026, 1:59 pm | Free Speech Union
The Free Speech Union is calling on the Minister to release the Cabinet papers before her June update, publish the full scope of the wider programme of work, and tell the public what the Department of Internal Affairs is already building in its name. More >>
Right Call To Pause On U-16 Social Media Ban - Now Halt The Machinery Built To Enforce It
Friday, 15 May 2026, 1:33 pm | Free Speech Union
"Pausing to think again, rather than legislating in haste, is what a serious government does when a policy hasn't survived contact with the evidence." More >>
Open Justice Demands Smart-Glasses Voyeur Should Not Get Name Suppression
Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 11:12 am | Free Speech Union
“Open justice is the rule. Suppression is the exception. That principle is older than the Criminal Procedure Act and more important than any individual defendant’s discomfort.” More >>
Why Was An Auckland Woman Summoned To A Police Station Over A Facebook Post?
Wednesday, 6 May 2026, 2:12 pm | Free Speech Union
"If a senior sergeant can still call a citizen and her mother because a Facebook post was unkind, the policy on paper has not landed in practice. New Zealanders deserve to know which it is." More >>
Government Scraps BSA: The Right Call, But Regulator And Department Overreach Is The Wider Problem
Wednesday, 6 May 2026, 1:58 pm | Free Speech Union
"This is the right call. For more than 20 years, Parliament declined to extend the BSA's jurisdiction over the internet. The BSA tried to take that power for itself anyway. A regulator cannot help itself to powers Parliament has refused to give." More >>
The Embassy In The Room: Did A Foreign Submission Shape A Takapuna Vote?
Wednesday, 29 April 2026, 10:43 am | Free Speech Union
The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board voted 4-2 to refuse a bronze statue offered to the Korean community for their own cultural garden at Barry’s Point Reserve. The board considered 672 public submissions. More >>
Policing Amendment Bill Would Let Police Film You, Detain You, And Demand Your Name At Any Public Gathering
Thursday, 23 April 2026, 2:35 pm | Free Speech Union
The Free Speech Union is calling on the Justice Committee to withdraw the Bill and start again. More >>
Government Moves To Enforce Social Media Ban Before Law Even Exists
Wednesday, 22 April 2026, 1:28 pm | Free Speech Union
A newly advertised senior role confirms officials are already building the enforcement architecture for the policy, including “the establishment of the Phase One operational service model for the under-16 social media restrictions.” More >>
Free Speech Union Backs Parody Bill: It Is Time New Zealand Got The Joke
Wednesday, 22 April 2026, 9:59 am | Free Speech Union
If you have ever made a meme, remixed a lyric to mock a politician, or drawn a cartoon of the Prime Minister, you have been quietly living on the wrong side of New Zealand copyright law. The Free Speech Union has filed a submission supporting the Copyright ... More >>
12,000 New Zealanders Tell Goldsmith To Put The Broadcasting Standards Authority Back In Its Box
Monday, 20 April 2026, 2:03 pm | Free Speech Union
“An unelected panel of four people in Wellington is working through a stack of complaints against an independent online publisher it has no statutory authority to regulate,” said Jillaine Heather, CEO of the Free Speech Union. More >>
Free Speech Union Welcomes BSA Shake-Up But Warns: The Devil Will Be In The Legislation
Friday, 10 April 2026, 3:27 pm | Free Speech Union
The authority would operate across three divisions: news media standards, professional content standards, and online platform harm, covering everything from editorial accountability to algorithmic amplification and platform design. More >>
BSA Grabs Power Over Online Speech, No Law Change Required
Wednesday, 1 April 2026, 11:18 am | Free Speech Union
The BSA acknowledges it has been asking Parliament to update the Broadcasting Act for two decades. Parliament has not done so. That is not an invitation for a regulator to rewrite its own mandate. More >>
Courts Ditch 6,200 Followers For 113 As Government Agencies Retreat From Public Platforms
Friday, 27 March 2026, 8:56 pm | Free Speech Union
Over 700,000 New Zealanders use X. The government’s job is to be where the public is, not where Wellington would prefer them to be, said Jillaine Heather, CEO of the Free Speech Union. More >>
Define The Harm First: UK Rejection Of Social Media Ban Exposes The Gap In New Zealand’s Approach
Friday, 13 March 2026, 2:18 pm | Free Speech Union
"A regulator tasked with policing 'subjective harm' without a clear, measurable mandate effectively becomes a 'Ministry of Truth' or a 'Censorship Bureau' and invites massive regulatory overreach." More >>
Royal Commission Confirms "Single Source Of Truth" Was A Failure: FSU Demands Protection From State Censorship
Wednesday, 11 March 2026, 11:10 am | Free Speech Union
The Free Speech Union is calling for any future emergency legislation to include an explicit "Free Speech Clause" to act as a legal guard rail against state overreach. More >>
Free Speech Union Brings International Free Speech Scholar Sarah McLaughlin To New Zealand
Tuesday, 10 March 2026, 11:58 am | Free Speech Union
Titled The Conformity Crisis, the tour will examine one of the most pressing but under-acknowledged challenges facing liberal democracies today. More >>
Free Speech Union: Hardwire Fundamental Freedoms Into Online Safety Law, Or We Will Fight It
Friday, 6 March 2026, 12:01 pm | Free Speech Union
When Parliament’s Education & Workforce Committee began investigating online harms facing young New Zealanders, Free Speech Union supported that work. Protecting children online is important and we understand that families want practical solutions More >>
